Sayaka Akira - A Naruto OC Insert
by SayakaAkira
Summary: Sayaka Akira moves to Konoha and attempts to be the best ninja she can be. Be prepared for a lot of cake, new jutsu and pitiful writing.
1. Chapter 1

SayakaAkira – Naruto OC Insert :D

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Naruto. This is merely an insert of my own character.

Enjoy! :D

Chapter 1:

Moving to the village hidden in the leaves went fairly smoothly for me and my Mum. We moved out from the Land of Honey (Yes, the Land of Honey) after Dad died in battle and decided for a change of scenery. In the shinobi world it tends to work a bit different with death of a family member. He died protecting the people he cares for so instead of the expected grief we gain a strong sense of pride. However I, being only 6 years old at the time, broke down completely. I cried my eyes out for days on end, but eventually sobered up when Mum baked me cakes. Fun Fact! I like cake.

In any case my dad left me several scrolls with the family jutsu inscribed into them, although I haven't really understood them. It was all so complex with language I don't even understand, let alone all that fancy chakra manipulation stuff. Mum reckons even Dad couldn't achieve all of them. But my whole family has always consisted of ninja so I had better used these secret family jutsu to my advantage.

Now I'm 8, recently living in the village hidden in the leaves and have to attend the Ninja Academy in about a week. Mum has gone back to her old job as a recon ninja so I tend to have the house all to myself on a lot of days. So whenever she's gone, I go out shopping for ingredients and bake cakes. I have actually found a way to use chakra to mix the dough faster, yet it somehow doesn't affect the overall taste in the end. At one point I had made so many cakes that I had to give them away, because even though my passion is strong, there are only so many cakes a human can eat. I decided I would give some to my neighbor. The girl who opened the door was very nice. Her name is Hana Inuzuka. She's part of a clan that specializes in breeding nin-ken or ninja hounds. She's around 4 years older than me and is a genin. She wants to help in the veterinary clinic, but also wants to become a recon ninja. I said I would introduce her to my mum when she comes back from her missions so they can talk about recon tactics and what not. She has a younger brother, Kiba (By the way: Kiba is a drink in my country that consists of Cherry and Banana Juice i.e. Kirsch-Banane, haha lol), who is my age, but I never see him, because apparently he's out playing ninja, which is a bit ironic seeing as we want to become ninja in the first place. In any case, since their clan owns lots of dogs I've started baking without sugar, chocolate, lactose and gluten whilst also adding vital minerals which aid in muscle growth. This essentially leads me to my current situation. I've just finished writing "Welcome Akamaru!" on a dog-friendly cake. Akamaru is a stray dog that Kiba picked up and now wants as his partner. Inuzukas tend to use dogs as their partners in battle. So we are having a welcome celebration to initiate him into their family.

I carried the cake next door and Hana led me inside, only for me to see a very scary looking woman also sitting at the table. That woman looked like she could rip your throat out with just looking. She had the same triangular markings on her cheeks like Hana and Kiba so I take it she was their mother. She looked up to me as if eyeing a piece of meat, but smiled hospitably. I take it this is where I introduce myself; "Hello. I'm Sayaka Hikari. It's a pleasure to meet you miss."

"I know. Your mom spoke very highly of you on our mission. You seem to have a lot of potential. I'm Tsume, by the way."

"Oh, umm, thanks. Where is mum anyway?"  
"She took a hit for the squad and has to check in at the hospital for the night. Nothing serious, but the Hokage sent her for precautionary check-ups."

"That's alright then," I sigh in relief. Thank god nothing had happened.

"She's a very strong ninja. Then again, anyone accepted into the Hikari Family is bound to have a lot of skill. Have you started developing your kekkei genkei yet? "

I think Kiba mumbled something along the lines of what is a kekkei genkei, but we all decided to ignore him :P "No, not yet. I don't think Mum thinks I'm ready yet, although she does hint at it now and again."

"Well, I didn't really expect it at this age anyway. In any case, I think we better get started on Akamaru's cake."

A white bundle of fur bounded into the room and jumped onto Kiba's lap. Awww, he's so cute! I mean Akamaru. Not Kiba.

… (Passage of time)…

I flopped into my bed and grabbed one of my dad's scrolls. Now that's messy handwriting. Tsk, boys. I start deciphering it. I think it talks about how the kekkei genkei state must be achieved before attempting any of the jutsu and once the kekkei genkei state has been reached it has a permanent effect on future jutsu use. According to the scroll the kekkei genkei will only show itself to someone who is worthy of the Akira name. Well, that's sodding helpful. It literally tells me nothing about how to get there. How can anyone be worthy of a family name? Our family doesn't have any special initiation or ceremony to compensate for that. I looked back at the scroll and see someone had drawn a messy arrow from that line. Underneath, in my Dad's handwriting, it said; "Bravery."

So I need to show bravery. That helps sooo much. I wonder if it's jump out of the window bravery or standing up for one's self bravery. Most likely the latter. I put the scroll back to my bed-side table and made up my mind that I would ask my Mum about it. She'll also know how Dad got his powers.

On an entirely different note, Kiba invited me to play ninja with a couple of his buddies. Aside from the fact that I have never "played" ninja before, I have hardly ever socialized with kids my age. In the Land of Honey (wait, let me giggle. Land of Honey…hihi), I was always around older folk; because my parents worked directly for the daimyou. I swear my parents were the youngest people in the area we stayed. Occasionally I would meet up with the daimyou's daughter, but she was really snobby so I didn't enjoy her company all that much.

So much thinking! Sleepy time for Saya-chan! I switch of the lights in my room and hide under the covers.


	2. Chapter 2

Sayaka Akira – Naruto OC Insert :D

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Naruto. This is merely an insert of my own character.

Enjoy! :D

IMPORTANT: I'm an absolute failure at drawing. My original plan was to draw Sayaka, but after failed attempts I've decided to just describe her now: Sayaka has waist long brown hair and round hazel eyes framed with thin arched eyebrows that make her look amused or happy a lot of the time. She has fair skin and a round face. In young years the cheeks are more puffy then they are when she's older. She is slightly shorter than most girls her age but it isn't a considerable difference. Her usual ninja clothes include the family shirt which is short sleeves, white and carries the family crest on the back. The crest consists of a yellow, vertical 4 vertex star (think compass directions) and a red diamond in the middle. Underneath she wears a fish-net type under armor for ninja. She wears dark grey ninja trousers (you know what I mean? The same as Tenten, kakashi, most chunin, but grey) with a shuriken/kunai holster. She wears a waist pouch facing her back for other supplies when needed in a mission, but she usually leaves this out. She wears grey sandals. In future she will tie her Konoha Headband around her left arm. I hope this is enough to give you a general image. Her mother looks very similar, but older, taller and has a lighter shade of brown for her hair.

Chapter 2:

I woke up to the smell of pastry. Yum. I brush my past-shoulder length brown hair and dress into my usual outdoor gear since I'm planning to practice some kunai tossing today and maybe try out some Tai-Jutsu chances. After all I don't have to wait for the Academy to teach. I look at the Akira family insignia on the back of the shirt. I'll make Dad proud.

I greet Mum and gasp very audibly. She had a bandage wrapped tightly around her head and she didn't look so happy. She was eating silently on a croissant (AN: They probably don't have Croissants in Naruto, but you know what? I like this particular good tasting fatty pastry).

"Mum, what's wrong?"  
"Hello to you to, Saya-chan…"  
"Oh right, Good morning! Ms. Inuzuka said you might have injured yourself during the mission."

"It's nothing really… Just does leaf village docs being a little bit extreme. I merely head-butted my opponent to allow my team to escape with valuable information without being detected. It was necessary at the time. You'll learn that when you become a ninja. Sometimes you have to take a blow for the squad to make sure the mission is a success."

"I'll be sure to remember that."

I sit down and munch happily on some more home-made pastry. I chug my orange juice and start preparing a snack in the kitchen.  
"You heading out for training today?"

"Yes Mum," I reply, "By the way, how did Dad achieve his kekkei genkei?"

"Oh, I think he had a serious sparring battle with his Sensei at the time. It's dangerous, because you have to fight somebody who's stronger than you to bring out your true potential. You have to face enemy attacks straight on. Hence, why I believe you should still be a bit older before you attempt the conversion."

"Conversion?"

"The kekkei genkei changes the way you manipulate chakra and the way your chakra acts in its surroundings. And…Actually I don't want to ruin the surprise for you. It's quite curious actually."

Good job Mum. You just made it seem like it's going to irreversibly change my life. I pack my things and head for the door.

"Oh and Saya-chan! If you're going to play ninja with Kiba and his friends make sure not to use real weapons."

"How?" How did she know that…

"I'm a recon ninja. It's my job to know stuff." She waved to me and called "have fun!"

*(Sayaka walks through the village to the main gates)*

Watch me, as I adventure towards the perilous forests unknown and pioneer the way of the ninja! Now that's how to pump myself for training. I find a small clearing in the forest outside the village and start hammering kunai into a tree trunk.

I soon lost track of time, whilst going through the continuous mantra of throw kunai – collect kunai and throw shuriken – collect shuriken. Exhausted I started eating the sandwiches I prepared for myself this morning.

I saw some ninja running between some trees in the distance. I take a closer look and see that they must be leaf chunin or jonin. They sprinted UP a tree and started jumping from bough to bough. I want to sprint up a tree as well! I guess they gather chakra at their feet and just run upwards. I jump up and gather some chakra at my feet until the blue-ish vaporous energy was visible. I ran at a tree and… crashed right into it and fell down. Obviously it requires a bit more finesse than just ordinary chakra release. I stand up again and put on leg on the tree. I pushed chakra towards my foot. Just releasing it won't do the trick, so how about equally distributing it until I feel some kind of adhesion. Yeah that sounds about right. I decrease the amount of chakra at my foot and imagine it to spread out in a flat way so that it covers my entire foot, like rolling out cookie dough. Now come on Saya! Lift up the other leg and do the same. I lift up my other leg and surprisingly enough my tree-connected leg remained connected to the tree. I did the same process with my other foot and slowly started staggering up the trunk. This is so cool! Everything's side-ways… and making me dizzy. I jump off and try again and again and again until I'm able to sprint up the entire length of the trunk with ease. I sat on one of the top boughs overlooking the spread of forest on one side and the village on the other. I looked at the sun and realize it must already be 2 in the afternoon. I have only 1 hour until my ninja game with Kiba.

I started climbing down by hand. Wait. I can just sprint down. I smirk to myself and get that strong feeling of achievement. I run down the tree until I realize at the bottom that all sorts of twigs and leaves have threaded themselves through my hair. Oh well. Time to go home and wash it out.

After threading leaves out of my hair, I hear the door-bell ring. I run down to get it and see Kiba.

"We're going to meet at the outside the library, it's the best place to play. Ya commin'?"

"Yup. Just let me put my shoes…" I quickly slip on my sandals and bound outside.

*…Walk towards Library (Mostly in silence. I was too focused in holding Akamaru on the way there. His fur is sooo soft.)…*

As we approach the library I see a group of boys also my age. Kiba introduced each one individually to me; "The one with the pineapple haircut is Shikamaru. The fa- I mean chubby kid is Choji. The blonde kid is Naruto…" The names blended in with each other that I hardly had time to remember any at all. "Guys! This is Sayaka. She's a friend and will be joining us!"

The blonde kid jumped startled me by suddenly jumping right in front of me. Suddenly he screams; "I'm NARUTO UZUMAKI and I'M GOING TO BE HOKAGE SOMEDAY! BELIEVE IT!" Well he isn't in your face at all (note the sarcasm). How strange, but at least he has good ambition and life energy, unlike Shika-something or other who seems bored out of his mind and appears almost half asleep.

"Emphasis on someday." "Yeah, someday in eternity. Hahaha." Some of the meaner boys jeered. I saw NARUTO UZUMAKI's hand clench into a fist. I guess maybe I should break this up a bit. Break the ice perhaps.

"Let him believe what he wants to believe." I say loud enough for everyone to hear. "I came here to play some ninja so let's get to it!" Naruto smiled somewhat thankfully at me.

We ended up playing good ninja – bad ninja. Basically it involved me being a bad ninja along with Kiba, Shikamaru, Choji and Naruto and we had to avoid being caught by the good ninja, the rest. Using my new tree climbing techniques I quickly made sure nobody was watching and easily jumped up a, normally really hard to climb tree. I hid myself in the dense summer leaves and surveyed the entire scenario from above. Choji and Shikamaru got caught seconds into the game and were dragged to a chalk ring, where they had to stay until a teammate such as me would tag them to set them free. 10 minutes later Naruto was dragged in. Damn. Our team immediately loses when all participants are caught. Another 5 minutes and Kiba was brought in. The "Good-Ninja" were having a team chat.

"Do you think she ran out on us. We said to play only in a 100 meter radius. "

"Yeah. She probably wanted to cheat. After all she is a girl." A frowning tick mark appeared on my forehead as he said that.

Suddenly Naruto shouted from the circle, "HEY SAYA! IF YOU WANNA SET US FREE, THEN MAYBE YOU SHOULD HURRY UP!"

But the "Good-Ninja" always have a person guarding the circle, so I would get caught the moment I set the others free. Then I remembered what my Mum told me this morning. "Sometimes you have to take a blow for the squad to make sure the mission is a success." I'm going to hate myself for this later. I jump down from the tree and run up to the circle tagging everyone in the process. They all looked up surprised, because they didn't know where I had come from. Kiba and Naruto immediately jumped up and ran for it, so they got away in time, however Shikamaru and Choji were a different story. The guard kid had now seen us and started sprinting towards us. I helped the two slackers up and pushed them in the opposite direction and confronted the guard. He tagged me, but I managed to hold on to him for a little while so that he couldn't run after the others. Shikamaru and Choji also got away, albeit slow and obvious. I sat down in the circle content with my actions and waited.

In the end we won and were all high-fiving each other.

"K' guys! Let's go eat!" Kiba shouts. "Choji's family is treating us for barbeque!"

"YAY!" Everyone cheered.

*…Eating and Walking Home…*

Kiba, Akamaru and I are on our way home after a massive barbeque feast sponsored by the Akimichi family. I think they ordered out the entire leaf village on meat. But it was tasty. And there was chocolate cake at the end. Choji and Shikamaru are actually really nice once I got to talk with them some more. So is Naruto, although he is a bit strange. Then again I heard he lives alone, so I guess his upbringing was poor.

We reach our respective house and Kiba turns to me. "The academy starts tomorrow. If you want I can collect you in the morning and show you the way there."

"That sounds awesome. Thanks!"

"No problem. Bye!"

"Bye Kiba. Bye Akamaru."

I kick of my shoes and run into the living room where my Mum was looking through mission folders. She looked up and smiled, "Did you have fun?"  
"Yes! And I got to know a lot of people who will probably be in my class tomorrow. Oh and you're point of wisdom this morning came in very handy today!"

"Did it now? Already implementing such complex forms of moral! Good job!" Sometimes my Mum is very sarcastic so I don't know if she's being purposely condescending or not…

"I'll just get ready for bed. Academy starts tomorrow and Kiba's taking me there."

"Alright. And also, I'll probably be gone on a mission sometime soon so you might have to take care of yourself like usual, ok?"

" S'okay Mum! Night!"

I got ready and went to bed. Back to school tomorrow it is.


	3. Chapter 3

Sayaka Akira – Naruto OC Insert :D

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Naruto. This is merely an insert of my own character.

Enjoy! :D

Image of Sayaka Akira (yeah I had the courage): albums/y406/AkizaIX/SayakaAkira_

Chapter 3:

Blank Scrolls = Check

Ink Pens = Check

Carrot Sticks = Check

Light Reading for Boring Classes = Check

Math Workbook = Check

Chocolate Cookies = Check

I readied myself for my first day at the Academy. To a certain degree I was excited. I had never been to a school with other people before so it would surely make for an experience. Seeing as I'm entering the 2nd year of ninja training it should be heavily based on survival techniques, basic taijutsu and trajectory mathematics.

Before Konoha, I was homeschooled by an expert sensei that had taught many elite ninja in the past. Although with him I covered a lot of chakra theory and manipulation. The taijutsu I learned from him was based on avoiding enemy attacks and dodging rather than actually attacking my opponent. Of course taijutsu style varies between countries also causing great diversity in teaching methods.

I met up with Kiba outside my house and I followed him to the Academy.

"Why are you taking Akamaru with you?"

"Because he's my partner of course!" Kiba answers as if I had asked a really stupid question. Akamaru "Arfs" in agreement with his master.

"Oh, ok then."

We finally get to the Academy where Kiba already walks to his class, whilst I'm stuck talking with this silver haired guy called Mizuki-sensei. He wrote out my schedule and told me I should join Iruka-sensei's class in 3-A. I quickly locate it and wait outside the door. I listen closely:

"Listen Up! We're having a new addition to our class today, so treat her nicely!" The teacher, most likely Iruka-sensei yells at his class. I take this as my cue to push the sliding door open and walk in calmly. Suddenly I feel a bit nervous. The whole class suddenly goes quiet. Even the girls who were jumping around and gushing behind some raven haired kid suddenly went down to a quiet chatter. Come on Saya. You're pathetic. You want to become a ninja and can't even introduce yourself to a class. Suck it up girl. I look up at Iruka-sensei. He has a similar haircut to Shikamaru. Eventhough he has a, excuse my language, badass scar running right across his nose, he looks friendly and open. Essentially anything the opposite of menacing.

"And who are you?" Iruka questions.

"I'm Sayaka Akira, the new student." Oh right, this is school so I added "sir."

"I'm Iruka and I will be your sensei for the next 4 years. If you have questions don't hesitate to ask. Now go on introduce yourself to the class."

I turn to face the class. "Ummmm." Brilliant start. Your name is; "Hello, my name is Sayaka Akira. It's a pleasure to be working with you all."

"You can take any one of the free spaces."

I trudge up the steps to one of back rows and sit next to Kiba. Apart from Choji, Naruto and Shikamaru I don't know anyone! There was a spot free next to Naruto, but I didn't really feel like sitting next to the #1 hyperactive kid and from what Kiba has told me; Naruto is the class clown.

Iruka-sensei starts talking about what a great year we have ahead of us. He delves right into Konoha history and I open my light-reading book titled "Enemy Ninja with Chocolate Glazing" and absorb myself into the wonderful world of epic adventures and culinary combat.

*Lesson drones on*

"Sayaka. Sayaka! SAYAKA!"

"THIS CAKE IS A LIE. It's transformed ninja!" I yell, broken out of my trance. Iruka-sensei glare at me, his face red with anger.

"Sleeping on your first day? That's not the kind of impression I would want to leave."

"I'm so sorry sir. It's just that I've already researched all this and I'm confident with my knowledge."

"Oh really," he raises his eyebrows as he says this. "Well then Sayaka, then you should be fully capable to deliver us a summary on the First Hokage."  
Oh god, what have I done? Time to prove to everyone that I'm not actually slacker, although it would help if I weren't so nervous.

"C'mon. Stand up and speak. We don't have all day."

I slowly stand up shakily. I look down to Kiba and he smiles. I don't know whether he wants to reassure me or he's close to laughing. Calm yourself. I take a deep breath and prepare myself to speak when I see a glimpse of white vapor in front of my eyes. I ignore it and speak in a clear voice:  
"Hashirama Senju was leader of the Senju clan and along with the head of the Uchiha Clan, namely Madara, founded the village we see here today. He was a legendary shinobi and was even labeled as the god of shinobi at some point. Hence he would later become the Shodai Hokage. He had the Wood Style kekkei genkei which I believe is based off an unusual mix of Water and Earth affinity. He was also able to seal many tailed beasts in his time… Yeah… "

"That was good. But remember, a ninja must always be attentive. Like you should be in class. Now to what I was actually saying; the other teachers and I have discussed and decided we wanted to do a survival training field-trip. In groups of 3 you will be paired up with one of new Chunin exam graduates or available Genin to give them an opportunity to try out leadership skills. The mission will be to retrieve a hidden scroll from Mt. Hakobe in less than 5 days. We teachers will try and simulate ambushes along the way. On top of that, each team will be given a different route to follow with lots of traps built into the path."

A lot of the class groans in complaint until Iruka-sensei mentions that the winning team will each get a day off from school to job-shadow a ninja of their choice, as long as it remains inside the walls of the city, as well as skip the next test. This suddenly changed the atmosphere of the class into competitive-ness (?) and "whoa-cool".

"I've already split you into teams of 3. The quality of your participation does get recorded and might lead to which team you're put into in the end. I shall now read out the teams. Team 1 will be Sakura Haruno, Kiba Inuzuka and Sayaka Akira. Team 2 will be Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha and Hinata Hyuga. Team 3 will be Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi and Ino Yamanaka. Team 4 … (You get the idea.)"

I watched as Naruto complained about how he had to be with "Duck-butt hair" and "Silent Girl" for the trip. He proceeded in talking about his prowess in the field of "ninja" as he put it, and said he deserved to be on a better team. To which Iruka shouted at him about how one has to be able to work well with a variety of different people to succeed. Albeit amusing, I zoned out of their banter and tried to locate Sakura. I realized she was just a row beneath us. She was deep in discussion with a blonde girl who I think was Ino. I eavesdrop on their conversation. Yeah, I know it's bad, but I want to get to know her without confronting her directly. Ok, I'm pitiful at socializing. I'll admit it. It already took 4 weeks of me living in Konoha to get to know my own neighbor Kiba. And I only had the nerve to go over to their place whenever I used cake as an alibi. Back to eavesdropping.

"I can't believe that idiot Naruto and that Hinata get to be on Sasuke's team," Ino shout-whispered.

"I know right. I should totally be on their team instead!" Sakura replies. Then adds smugly, "But I'm actually quite content. You want to know why?"

"Why's that?"

"Sasuke winked at me today."

"WHAT! NO WAY! You're lying. There's no way Sasuke would wink at you! He probably blinked, but you're forehead obscured your vision to make it look like he winked."

"OH YEAH INO -PIG !"

"EXACTLY BILLBOARD-BROW!"

Soon a swarm of girls flooded around their table joining in the banter to talk, or yell, about Sasuke. With all the shouting going on in front of me it soon became impossible to hear their conversation properly. Seems like Sakura is Sasuke obsessed. Oh well, nothing I can do about that. Apparently she has one of the best grades in class, so she's bound to do ok on the trip.

*School-day passes. Consists of Math and Taijutsu training. We had to run 20 laps before we were aloud to start sparring practice. (Frowny Face) Choji had to take 2 breaks during the run.*

I stop at the grocery store to pick up some food whilst my mum's on her mission. I'm thinking bell-pepper soup with bacon. Sounds good to me.

I walk home to find my mum tightening her forehead protector and preparing herself to leave.

"Hey mum! Getting ready to leave I see!"

"Oh hey! Sayaka, how was school?"

"It was good." I didn't feel like it was necessary to tell her about sleeping in class. "We're going on a 5 day survival trip to retrieve a scroll on Mt. Hakobe."

"I see. Good luck on that. Seems like we're both going to be very busy then." She pauses and checks her hair in the reflection. "Oh. And please refrain from falling asleep in class again."

"How did you know? Did Iruka-sensei tell you?"

"No he didn't. I have my ways," she says whilst tapping her nose cunningly. Sometimes I wonder if I'm really her daughter. "I'll be on my way. Have fun and assist your team in the best way possible."

"I will. You have too."

Mum raises her eyebrow.

"I mean have fun. No. Assist your team. Err. Stay Alive?"

She laughs. "Saya. Make sure to work on that confidence."

"Yes mum…"

"OK. See you later."

And with that she poofs away in a whirl smoke and I try to unfold the pages in my book that I bent when I slept on it.


	4. Chapter 4

Sayaka Akira – Naruto OC Insert :D

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Naruto. This is merely an insert of my own character.

Enjoy! :D

IMPORTANT: Dear Readers, if you are in the position to comment, please leave some form of feedback, because if this is a piece of crap and you aren't telling me because you find my struggle to write amusing I'll grrrrrr *growls angrily at readers, because of her silly insecurities* Enough of becausing. On with the story.

Chapter 4:

"Hello, I'm Izumo Kamizuki and I'll be your squad leader over the next 5 days. Our mission will be to retrieve a hidden scroll from Mt. Hakobe and return here. Here are our maps. When the teachers launch a mock ambush go into the defense position you were taught, i.e. the no-blindspot formation. Got that!"

"Yup!" "Understood." "Yahoo!"

"Oh and we absolutely must get the scroll before Kotetsu's group," Izumo whispers whilst pointing at another group a couple of metres away. A tall guy with spiky hair and a bandage running across his nose was trying to explain something to Naruto. Hinata turns red every time Naruto says something and Sasuke stands with his back turned to the group. "Although," Izumo continues, "I don't think we have to worry all too much about their team bringing anything to the table at all…" We all sweatdrop in unison (yes even Akamaru) and look at our assigned route.

"Oh we got the river path!" Kiba points out. "I know that area really well due to my walks with Akamaru!"

"That's good. Such assets will get us the scroll in no time! Iruka says that we have to leave the village by this morning, but he didn't specify when. If we leave now we might get a head start on the other teams seeing as their still discussing their routes. I trust you know what to pack for such a survival exercise so I want you guys to meet me at the village gate in 30 minutes."

Kiba and I head to our houses, whereas Sakura and Izumo head towards the central part of the village. I start packing a small grey backpack with things I will need. A thin rain jacket, a bundle of rope, my sleeping bag (These are not your ordinary sleeping bags which take a lot of perseverance and strength to fold together and take up a lot of space in your bag. This is a "shinobi sleeping bag", which is fine water proof material that can be folded nicely into a thin rectangular shape.), matchsticks, bandages, 2 water bottles, protein bars and some chocolate chip biscuits. I sling my bag over my shoulder and wait for Kiba. He and Akamaru join me as we run for the village gates as fast as we could, seeing as we only had 10 minutes left.

We saw Izumo already waiting there. We wait for Sakura (who would have guessed she would be last) and immediately set out to find the beginning of our given route. We spot the dirt trail leading across a narrow river and walk along following in a line behind Izumo. I was stuck at the end, meaning that in a real mission I would have to be constantly checking behind me.

*Long Walks and a couple of nights later.*

We trudge along the path still following that same river. However the river was now at the bottom of a ravine as we were slowly gaining altitude.

"We'll have to cross over that bridge over there!" Izumo calls out too us. I poked my head from behind the line and see a narrow wooden bridge, the kind you see in movies and that always seem to fall about as soon as someone touches it. I ain't going over that thing!

We walk up to it. "Seems safe," Kiba says gingerly putting a foot on the first plank of wood. Akamaru hops onto it and "arfs" in agreement.  
"Since, I'm heaviest and will save myself from the fall regardless, I'll go over first. Then you Kiba. Then Sakura. Then Sayaka."

"Are you sure this is safe?" Sakura asks still uncertain of the creaking line of wood and rope.

Izumo walks down the bridge and stands in the middle. "Perfectly safe! Come on!"

I was still skittish about it. There is no way I'm going over that thing. Kiba, Akamaru and Sakura all make it over. I'm the only one left over.

"Get over here Saya! Or are you too scared!?" Kiba taunts, trying to motivate me across by making me angry. I'm afraid that won't work Kiba, because, I'll admit it, I am scared.

Wait. I want to become a ninja. This is nothing. Ninjas laugh at the site of bridges! Come on Saya, you can do it. I fist pump and shout, "YES, I CAN DO THIS!" A flock of birds leave the nearby tree. Oh no that was supposed to be in my head… I see my teammates on the other side sweat dropping.

I put one foot on the bridge and hear a loud creek. I quickly withdraw my foot as the entire bridge starts tumbling down. My heart races as I imagine what could have happened if I had fallen down with it. I guess I really wasn't going to cross this bridge huh?

"Wait there! I'll just get you over!" Izumo calls from the other side. Then I realize this is a brilliant opportunity to practice my chakra manipulation skills.

"No. I want to try crossing myself! Don't worry!" I shout back over. I take out two kunai and my rope. I tie one end to the kunai and force some chakra into it. Again weird wisps of white light started appearing along with my normal chakra. I ignore it for now and throw my kunai with full force into the cliff face on the other side, just below the edge. I then tie my end to my other kunai and jam it into the ground with full force. I test the rope to see that it had good leeway as well as tightness. I gather a thin layer of chakra at my feet like I would with tree climbing and standing on water and place on foot on the rope. I let out a sigh of relief to see my foot was adhesive to the rope. Imagine like walking on a metal bar with magnet shoes. Once again I notice little wisps of white emerging along with the chakra on my feet.

Setting one foot after another I make it across.

"Wow, you must have amazing chakra control!" Sakura squealed. I blush slightly at the compliment.

"Yeah that was amazing!" Kiba agrees.

"Your chakra control is way above that of an academy student. Normally you don't learn maneuvers like these until you meet your Genin sensei."

"Ok, enough with the compliments. We have other teams to beat," I say.

*Time skip… A lot of walking, sweating (yukk? Tmy?) and cookie crunching later*

We were half-way up Mt. Hakobe. It's called a mountain, but it isn't really. It has around 550 metres altitude above sea level. A giant hill? Whilst I was pondering on what makes a mountain a mountain Akamaru perks up from Kiba's hoody and starts barking.

"The teachers are going to do their ambush now!" Kiba says. "I can smell them." Yeah, Inuzuka's and their enhance sense of smell. Then he continues, "I think they're only clones though!" What? They can even sniff out if the person is a clone or not. Unfair. Just you wait until I get my kekkei genkei, albeit still unknowing of what it actually is.

"Get into formation!" Izumo calls out and we move into a rectangular shape with our backs turned to each other, kunai knives drawn at the ready. This formation has no blind spots as we are all facing in separate directions. Well, except one, in the middle, but when I mentioned it in class Iruka sensei claims that only highly experienced shinobi could pull that off and we wouldn't have to worry about it.

Ninja in stereotypical ninja attire start crashing through the trees, wielding large clubs made out of wood. It's kind of pathetic really now that I think about it. Even though I was pretty confident, I felt my adrenalin rising. Why must I be so scared about everything!? I run some chakra through my kunai, and once again white wisps of energy started clouding around the kunai as well. This is becoming routine now. I toss my kunai at one of the ninjas and they explode in a cloud of white smoke. One of the ninjas, judging by his voice it was Iruka sensei, retreats whilst shouting:

"Well done! You are the first at this point!"

"Thank You, Mr. Ambush Ninja!" I call out behind him just to be a little cheeky.

*Time skip…Climbing Mt. Hakobe*

You have now reached your final destination. We stood in front of a wooden chest.  
"This is it, "I say, "We win!"

"Go on Sakura, open it!"

Sakura attempts to open it but fails at undoing the clasp. I hand her a kunai knife. She smiles thankfully but her red cheeks show that she might also feel embarrassed. She snaps the clasp and opens the chest to reveal a single plain boring old scroll.

"I thought it would be a bit fancier than this," I comment dryly.

"Yeah, but it is the scroll we were supposed to get. Here I'll open it," Izumo says.

He takes the scroll and opens it and suddenly a puff of white smoke envelopes all of us.


End file.
